SON

The music on this album is simply the best progressive rock music I've ever heard coming out of Ukraine. The sound engineering, sonic soundscapes, compositional maturity, confident multi-diverse instrumental performances, and incredibly strong voices are all of the best, top quality--equally to anything from Polish prog world or Steven Wilson (which makes some sense since it was mixed by The Pineapple Thief's BRUCE SWOORD).

1. "Ostannya Myt" (The Last Moment) (8:36) ticking of a grandfather clock and cerebral violin play open this before full strings section joins in. Entry of the piano breaks through and disperses the strings so that the amazingly clean and theatric voice of Vladimir Agafonkin can sing. Wow! What a voice! In the second minute the first verse ends and the rock band jumps out and plays with power and vigor that is startling--and awesome. Then they back off and bass and drums play as the only support for Vlad's second verse. The chorus is high energy and powerful before a nice sax solo leads the instrumental section. At 4:20 things quiet down, but ominous tension remains and is augmented by sporadic and restrained contributions from many instruments while slowly building with the saxophone's soloing. At 5:50 Vlad's chorus caps off the tension with some backup singers helping out. At the seven minute mark everything relaxes, quiets, strings slowly filling, before Vlad returns and then the band amps things back into full force, full voice while the song plays out with the chorus repeating itself and then djenty guitar and wailing sax taking us through the rock outro. Awesome and startling song. For sure a top three song for me. (9.5/10)

2. "Kryla" (Wings) (10:10) pretty straightforward heavy rock drawn out over ten minutes with some nice acoustic and electric guitar work and solid singing throughout; just not enough fresh or exciting things to really grab one--though the slightly amped up middle instrumental section and following delicate guitar and flute/violin duets are nice. Also, the orchestrated crescendo in the eighth minute is nice. (7.5/10)

3. "Razom" (Together) (7:33) strings, acoustic guitar and violin give this a bit of a BELIEVE feel to it before a strong, theatric vocal enters. Very Broadway, even Andrew Lloyd-Weber, feel to this beautiful Phantom-like "aria." Former BELIEVE lead singer Karol Wróblewski sang in this beautiful, full-voiced, theatric style. When Vladmir Agafonkin sings like this the voice becomes the central focus of the music-especially with such an strings/orchestral support system like this one. (8.5/10)

4. "Temna Rika" (The Dark River) (11:09) opens heavy and hard, though with a pace that is not very fast, before everything settles back to acoustic guitar and some light percussion and piano play to support a more laid-back voice. Wooden flute takes over after the first verse using the same melody lines. Very pretty. Again I am reminded of some of Poland's more sensitive and mature bands and singers--such a strong, effective voice! And I love the fact that Vladimir and his support vocalist, Olga Skripova, choose to sing in their native Ukranian! NIce electrified nylon string guitar solo in the fifth and sixth minute, which is then followed by a smooth, confident electric guitar solo. A heavier section ensues immediately as Vlad and Olga sing. Tensions increase toward the end of the seventh minute before a (8.5/10)

5. "Nazustrich Tyshi" (Facing the Silence) (4:10) is a wonderfully constructed and performed instrumental--one that seems to be telling a powerful, probably touching story. The use of orchestration on this album is simply superb! (9.5/10)

6. "Kimnata" (The Room) (5:13) opens like a 1970s pop song with simple stripped down song structure. The vocal then enters with the same styling, but a guitar solo taking off right after the singing is a little more rockin' to fit the pop bill. Once the long guitar solo ends, the song stays up on a more energetic rock level, vocal, too. The flute solo that follows feels like an Andy Tillotson/The Tangent solo. At the four minute mark, tempo and style shift again to something more country rock-like. Interesting song. The album's weak link. (7/10)

7. "Interludiya" (Interlude) (Instrumental) (1:13) has a welcome ominous tension in it as synths, drums, low bass, and violin develop a cool texture. (5/5)

8. "Son" (Dream) (7:12) jumping right out of "Interludiya," the song has a hard-driving pace with constantly rolling bass for the first minute but then it all slows down and voice and violin give twin plaintive performances. As the song begins to climb back into sonic power in the third minute, so too does Vlad's vocal. Then, suddenly at the three minute mark, it all shifts to a more orchestra-dominated sound with a more theatric vocal. An instrumental section ensues in which electric power is woven with strings in an interesting, almost mirroring way. Nice little guitar solo closes out the fifth minute just before everything amps back up for Vlad and female background vocalists take us to the peak. Nice song but lacking any real hooks or lasting impact. (8.5/10)

9. "Zemle Moya Myla" (My Dear Land) (5:07) opens with strings before piano ends up accompanying Vlad in a truly Phantom Andrew Lloyd-Weber like, stage-like rock opera performance. The electric rock elements join in later but then recede into he mix, letting the song continue to feel like something totally from a Lloyd-Weber stage. Gorgeous. And powerful. Especially the final minute. (9/10)

10. "Novyi Pochatok" (A New Beginning) (Instrumental) (4:34) opens in a soft, delicate way that feels so familiar from so many Mirek Gil songs--which becomes even more apapros due to the seering Gil-like guitar solo playing over the first two minutes. Strings, piano, and acoustic guitar and delicate rhythm section make up the perfect support for this wonderful and emotional lead guitar work. My favorite song on the album. (10/10)

11. "Yanhol" (Angel) (7:25) synths, flute and acoustic guitar open this one before drums and bass join in to create a beautiful, delicate soundscape over which Olga Skripova gets the lead singing honors. The song builds a little but, in my opinion, this only distracts from the gorgeous sound the first verse had created. At 2:40 things shift to create a more spacious yet syncopated background over which Aleksey Katruk gets another chance to show us the wonderful melodic sense and technical skills he has on the lead guitar. At 4:45 everything quiets down again for a beautiful final two-plus minutes of music with long talk and fade out. Well done! My final top three song of the album. (9.5/10)

4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of progressive rock music. This is definitely an album worth checking out and a band that I will be watching anxiously for future releases.

Just to confuse everyone, this album isn't actually called 'Son', but that is the closest way of representing the Cyrillic alphabet (these guys are from the Ukraine), and translated it means 'Dream', so now the album cover makes a little more sense! Formed back in 2004 by Volodymyr Agafonkin (vocals, acoustic guitar) it soon became a full band, and these days includes both viola and flute in the six person line-up. It has taken eight years since the debut for this album to be released, but perhaps that isn't surprising when one considers just what went into this. 15 musicians were involved, including a string quartet, 10 sound engineers were involved in recording, which took more than 200 hours in seven different studios across three cities. The album was then mixed by Bruce Soord (who has of course found fame with his band The Pineapple Thief, although for some reason I always think of him as being from Vulgar Unicorn).

There are obvious similarities with Bruce's own work, and I can see why they wanted him involved, as he has managed to capture the beauty and majesty of a quite amazing album. In many ways it is truly progressive as the band have been magpies across multiple progressive sub genres, taking the bits that shine and sparkle and then mixing them with their own take on folk and pop to create something that is very different to most of the music that is coming out of the scene today. The arrangements are incredibly complex and layered, without being smothering as there is always plenty of room for everyone. At times the guitars are hard and threatening with squeals of pain and dischord coming from the viola, but at others it is light and fresh. It can be languid, or it driving, yet is always inspirational and essential. It is a great album, one that all progheads need to seek out, even if it isn't what they might expect from the genre as a whole. What about this for the final word from the band? "Despite how much it cost for us to create this album, we're sharing it with you for free. In return, we ask you to help us be heard by sharing the album with your friends personally and on social networks, writing a review on your favourite music website, leaving comments and likes. We won't make it without you." You heard the guys

While the Ukraine is no stranger to progressive rock with many great bands making a splash in the 21st century (think Karfagen, Sunchild, Modern-Rock Ensemble, A Noend Of Mine), almost all of the modern bands from that nation have opted to appeal to an international audience and released their music with lyrics and song titles exclusively in the English language but for every general trend there is always an exception and that's where this Kiev based band comes in. Обійми Дощу (Obiymy Doschu) means "Embrace Of The Rain" and since its inception all the way back in 2004 has released its mere two albums in the Ukrainian language which isn't something that is common considering the more popular Russian still being spoken in many areas of Ukraine.

What began as the one-man project of Volodymyr Agafonkin has resulted in one of the most ambitious undertakings for a progressive rock album in quite some time. While the band project's debut "Елегія" (Elegy) debuted Agafonkin's affinity for mixing melancholic neofolk and chamber folk with progressive rock and touches of metal, the band was limited to only eight musicians that tackled the usual instrumentation of guitar, bass, drums, keyboards along with violin, viola and recorder. As if that wasn't ambitious enough, Agafonkin went for broke when it came to a sophomore followup which took 8 years to record in 7 different studios and 200 hours of recording time. The result was the 72 minut "Сон" (pronounced "sone" as in rhymes with "bone" and is Ukrainian for "dream") which featured a whopping 15 musicians, 10 sound engineers including a string quartet.

Once again, Обійми Дощу (Obiymy Doschu) crafted an album that featured lush complex composiitons set to the poetic prose of the Ukrainian language, a daring feat that while alienating on one hand to the world's majority of non-Ukrainian speakers, also allowed the band to stand out from the never-ending Euro-worshippers of classic prog from the usual suspects. The result is an interestingly designed intricate album of in many ways seems to be taken to higher levels due to the involvement of Pineapple Thief leader Bruce Surdu who collaborated with the band to bring "Сон" into the production-rich arenas where bands like Riverside, Porcupine Tree and fellow Ukrainians Karfagen reside. While unbeknownst to most non-Ukrainian speakers, the album features a loose concept of a story of a man who faces the difficulties of the modern urban and globalized world and how waking up from the illusion will provide a beacon of light to navigate in the modern jungles of life.

"Сон" is one of those no costs spared works with a passionate delivery of beautiful lush tracks with production tricks reserved only for the bigwigs of the rock world and in many ways the Ukraine's answer to bands such as Porcupine Tree and Riverside as the compositional style relies on sprawling post-rock infused tracks that feature recurring melodic hooks accompanied by symphonic and chamber rock counterpoints that deliver a larger than life quality. Agafonkin delivers some of those emotive tugs of vocal performance that while getting the job done seem to reside in a limited range that for myself is one of the biggest disappointments of this project in that those very lyrics seem to stilt the expressiveness that the music demands. As a clear progenitor of the Porcupine Tree model, this band unfortunately just doesn't have the pop hook chops to really draw me in so that i can ignore the individual elements that make up the album's content.

While "Сон" is by no means a bad album, at the same time i just find it unsatisfying as the standard formula is pretty much set for the entire 72 minutes of playing time with little deviation. When compared with a brilliant album by Porcupine Tree for example, what's really lacking here is excellent compositions that draw you back time and time again at least that is so for me personally. For those who love those albums that rely predominantly on production and the accoutrements of symphonic backing, this one is obviously one you should not miss but at the same time if you strip down the song to their basic chord progressions and inner workings, i just don't find this album interesting enough to warrant much high praise. In short, this is an album i really want to like more but it doesn't quite scratch that itch. Oh well.

3.5 rounded down

Regardless the actual war as of March 19th 2022, the idea of reviewing this excellent album has been in my mind since its release.

I want to spend few words about the title whose ethimology witnesses the common origin of many European peoples (Russians included). "Son" in Ukrainian means "dream". Well, in my mother language (Italian), "sonno" means sleep and "sogno", with gn spelled as ñ in Spanish, means "dream". Same roots for words in langauges distant thousand of miles.

Now the proper review: "The Last Moment" starts with a progression and a melody that initially reminded me to a Keith Emerson's solo song, but it's just the start. This is a symphonic track. If you have the ability of getting used to the vocals of Vladimir Agafonkin, tis song is full of things going on, with strong melodies, excellent production and great arrangements including also a metal-like distorted guitar near the end of the track.

"Wings" is opened by Agafonkin's acoustic guitar. The strings, a viola and two cellos give richness to the soundscape and Olga Skripova's backing vocals armonize very well with Agafonkin's baritonal voice. Almost all the songs of the album have strong melodies of the kind that you can recognize as familiar already at the second listen. This one, in particular, scores about 10 minutes but has so much going on as it was a sort of short epic. A remarkable electric guitar riff is in the middle, followed by an acoustic guitar and flute duo followed by cello. Progressively tasteful.

"Together" has a very simple 4 chords progression. When I was in a band, something similar was written by our guitarist and was actually my favorite band's song. So I personally like it, but it lacks some originality. Very melodic, indeed.

After so much melody a darker track is needed. The Dark River's intro rocks and can remind to Transatlantic. After the intro it's mainly acoustic guitar and voice for a sad melody based on minor chords. Boris Khodorkovskiy's flute takes the lead with a very melodic interlude. At the end it's a perfect sad song that scores about 11 minutes so it can be filled by many instrumental parts giving room to guitar, strings and so on.

Minor chords again for "Facing The Silence". Yevhen Dubovyk's keayboards leave the background. It's the first instrumental track of the album, but the album flows so seamlessly that I've taken a while to realize that Agafonkin doesn't sing on it.

On "The Room" Olga's vocal harmonies are back. It's quite a pop song but it's also one of the most enjoyable of the album. I can't say if it's the best, but it's the kind of song that one can spin twice in a row because one time is not enough. A flute solo in a Jimmy Hastings style is a very good addition to it.

"Interlude" is just a one minute instrumental with a cinematic mood. Good for a movie soundtrack. It could have been extended, but its purpose is to introduce the title track so it can be considered part of that.

"Dream" is again a minor chords song whose sadness is increased by the violin solo. Agafonkin's voice sounds dramatic. Anyway, despite the high use of classical instruments it's a rock track. On the short guitar solo, Aleksy Katruk sounds like Piotr Grudzinski.

Then it comes a sweet melancholic song. I don't know the lyrics, but in these days its title adds a special meaning: "My Dear Land". It has been released in 2017, I don't know if there's any reference to the Crimea thing, but I can imagine an Ukrainian volunteer holding a gun in a devastated city.

I hope that the band can be prophetic as the following track is "A New Beginning". Hopefully a good one. Percussion and sax like in a newage instrumental, lightly melancholic but with more major chords. It transmits more positive feelings, in particular due to the sax. I remember having thought that the electric guitar couldn't have had a sound different from the one used here. After the guitar string and piano play an interlude and the clean guitar is back with a lot of reverb. A very nice instrumental.

It was a dream, by the way, so the closer track "Angel" is again newagey and sounds like waking up in a sunny day. Olga Skripova is the lead singer in this song, with Agafonkin backing her.

What to say? I'm possibly conditioned by the current situation, also because we don't even know if the band members, based in Kiev, are still alive, but I see that I'm not the first rating it with the maximum, and as I have written in the first line of this review, this album was in my mind long before the war.

Long life to your dear land.